It’s slow, fiddly work, but will be so worth it.
Here’s the exact how-to, with pictures to make all clear (hopefully…).
Trim the edge of the backing and batting away from the quilt top by about 3/16″. I prefer the minimum necessary, and think a quarter inch is too much, the outer hexies get a floppy edge.
Stitch your hexie facing together in pairs. Offer up a pair to the edge of the front, and hem the facing to the front using tiny stitches. It helps if you pull the facing back a tiny bit to give you a clear space to run your needle between the fabric layers..
Stitch both sides of the pair to the outer edge of the quilt front. Stop and knot off. You can see the stitches if you look very carefully, but they are small and neat, and with this ‘hemming’ process they’re not right on the edge and will resist wear a bit better.
Take your next facing pair. You need to stitch the right hand edge of the right hand hexie to the left hand edge of the one you’ve just finished sewing in. Lay them face to face and stitch inwards towards the centre of the back. Knot off, and flip the other half over. Now you’re ready to sew the next top edge.
At this point, I like to undo the basting on the previous pair and pull out the paper. I fold the seam allowance back in tidily and pin the free edge down through the quilt layers to secure it.
Once all the facing hexies are sewn onto the outer edge, you’ll come back to this inner pinned edge and hem that down too. After that, you’re ready to start quilting. Because the batting goes right up to the edge, you can also quilt right to the edge if you wish.
Yes, it is labour intensive, but doesn’t it give a pretty result?
talltalesfromchiconia 
Yes it does! Continue to be impressed – especially as I know my neatest hand stitching isn’t anywhere near as neat as yours!
Practice, a fine needle, good glasses and a bright light… I’m lucky to have the last three and time enough for the first!
Stars in my eyes as always … everything you make is a feast for the senses 🤩
It’s laborious, but it is producing a very nice result 🙂
Can’t wait to see the finished product
I think you may have to, lots still to be done!
🥰
So cool! For some reason, my little brain did not compute how large those hexies are — that makes this quilt even more impressive, in my opinion! You’re so generous to share all the steps!
And I was so blown away by your quilt, I forgot to ask how your ankle is feeling? Hopefully, you’re on the mend and are able to work on ROM and strengthening soon!
The ankle is much improved, thank you so much! Bruising almost gone, swelling right down. I just have to be careful not to go over on it again for a while… I think the brace will be a feature of my life till the ligaments regain their strength, but the pain is no longer bad.
It’s not surprising, considering that hexies half the size are the norm. I don’t see the sharing as generous, more that I like process posting rather than just going “ta-daaa” at the end with a finished item. I like to know the how and why, and I like to encourage others to try too.
It’s a beautiful finish to a fantastic quilt. You have put so much time into sewing the hexies, it is worth the time to finish it well.
I agree! And if you have an interesting edge, it’s fun to make a feature of it rather than ‘dumb it down’ by making it straight so it’s easy to bind.
I can truly see the “labour of love” and I’m impressed with the wonderful effort it’s takes to make the pattern/hexies come together…awesome result…looking forward to seeing it laid on a flat surface, all done and dusted for us to truly admire…
Looks like ankle injury was a way to make you stay the distance…and I guess stitching the final touches meant you had to rest said ankle…even if one didn’t want said immobishment (sp check can’t a suitable word…)
I reckon the ‘done and dusted’ is at least a month away, given that I still have to quilt it by hand, but I’ll be able to show the back fully faced in a week or so. The back and the ankle have conspired together to point me at the handwork, and I’m glad to have the excuse of immobilisation (?) to do a hefty chunk of work 🙂
I would never, EVER shave the patience to do this kind of work, but I certainly admire both effort and result.
It’s like eating an elephant. You don’t look at all the work ahead of you, just what’s on your plate today. Practice has made me less anxious about how much there is still to do, and after all, since the Mackay Show has been cancelled, I have no deadline…
Genealogy is a bit like that, except there’s never an end. Each person you “find” has two more people to find — their parents. And it’s exponential! So, I just focus on moving upward, exploring stories I stumble across along the way.
Have to admit this whole shutdown thing has made me less focused on getting things done immediately, instead doing what I can do each day. Still don’t plan to take up quilting though.
It gives a beautiful finish! Love seeing yours develop, but it’s not something I’d do myself (says the one who fiddles around with quarter sized pieces or smaller when paper-piecing at times).
For me, EPP is as well as, not instead of. When I’m done sewing at the machine, there’s always a basket of handwork to be busy with while I’m watching TV or listening to a book.
It is looking very lovely indeed.
Thanks, Cathy. I think I’ll hold off posting more about this one till I have a lot more done, because an endless line of hexies would probably get old very fast! Perhaps when I start marking up for quilting….
love the chosen backing fabric, Kate ^^
I do too! From a distance it looks like a conventional William Morris type print, but it has all those creatures – and my favourite is the bear doing a Dad-dance 🙂
Yes it is fiddly and time consuming but I find fine hand sewing rather restful. It goes in phases with me – I do some and enjoy it then it becomes too samey and I have to stop, then come back to it for a while and so on. As long as there is no deadline all is fine. I actually prefer it to machine patching or quilting.
It’s good to ring the changes. I love the speed of assembly with machine piecing; that whole instant gratification thing. And then there are times when I want a micro rather than macro job, and I want to concentrate on a few inches rather than yards of fabric.
Beautiful result indeed 🙂
Thanks, it’s worth the work.
Everything has already been said – I shall just look on in silent awe.
It’s OK, I’m going to take Anemone off air for a while so I can do a load of dull stuff, so you won’t have to scrabble for nice things to say about yet another photo of hexies 😉 It’s just, if I’m process posting about it, I do need to show the process!
I agree with tialys…only to add – it’s heartening to hear you’re enjoying the process Which is really a big part of what it’s all about.
It is the entire thing. Why make a quilt if you don’t really have fun, unless you just have to get a grim part done before the good bits start again?
Really very pretty !
Thank you, it’s getting there…
I´m not sure I understood it, but I´ll keep reading it again and again and again……..
Or, you could wait until I have some progress to show, and then you can see in pictures what I have not been able to explain clearly in words…